‘Kingmaker’ is the album Tami Neilson was destined to make. An album of empowerment and lived experience, ‘Kingmaker’ delivers tales of the power imbalances and systemic issues within the music industry that impact women – through the medium of catchy hooks, soaring string arrangements, and some of Neilson’s best, and often droll, vocals.

The simmering rage within Neilson’s lyrics fuel the album, notably in the freeform, percussive album closer Ain’t My Job, but also appear in her instant Southern Gothic classic Baby, You’re a Gun, the delicious Careless Woman, and the soulful, slinky Green Peaches – a Bobbie Gentry-esque song that stands out as one highlight in an album of truly fine songs.

Grief and loss weave throughout too. Beyond The Stars, the sublime duet with country legend Willie Nelson, and the equally evocative I Can Forget reflect her grief at the loss of her father, who wrote the song’s original music. The origin story King Of Country Music is one of Neilson’s smartest songs – the lyrics have a subversive humour, and the chorus, with it’s catchy rhythms reminiscent of hand-clapping songs, is scored with a descending bass line that feels ominous. Here, she ponders ‘could the king of country music be the daughter not the son?’

The inspired orchestral arrangements by Victoria Kelly are particularly effective throughout Kingmaker, Baby, You’re a Gun and The Grudge, underscoring both emotion and meaning, and compliment both Neilson’s extraordinary vocal range, and her gifted band. Immaculately recorded at Roundhead Studios, ‘Kingmaker’ is a modern classic that you rip through and then immediately want to play again. Thought-provoking and majestic, ‘Kingmaker’ is – so far – Tami Neilson’s definitive recorded music statement.